Pizza alla Siciliana (Sicilian Pizza)

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Whenever my mamma made bread, she would also make a pan of pizza, and it was always a special treat – even though it happened almost every week. She would make the pizza in a large rectangular baking sheet and top it with fresh homemade marinara sauce, basil, and Parmigiano and Romano cheese. When it was done, she would cut the pizza with her oversized scissors, and we would eat it straight out of the pan. I am fortunate enough to now own the same scissors she used to cut our pizza with. They sit in my kitchen as one of my most treasured possessions.

When my kids were young, some of them were embarrassed that I would make pizza in a cookie sheet. We were the only Italians in our little town, and what they thought was “Italian pizza” was always round and cut into triangles. I have tried to teach them better and to remind them of our Sicilian roots and family traditions. It doesn’t matter how the world thinks pizza should look – this is how our Sicilian family has made pizza for generations. If it was good enough for them, it’s good enough for us. As the kids have grown, they have come to appreciate their heritage and just love making and eating our family pizza alla Siciliana.

This pizza is nothing like what you order from a delivery chain. The dough is homemade – the same bread dough my mamma used for everything from loaves to focaccia. The sauce is a simple, from-scratch marinara that simmers while the dough rises. And the toppings are pure Sicilian simplicity: Parmigiano Reggiano, Pecorino Romano, and fresh basil. No mozzarella. No pepperoni. Just clean, bold flavors on a thick, golden crust that comes out of the oven crispy on the bottom and soft and airy inside.

Pronounced see-chee-lee-AH-nuh, this is the pizza of our family. And today I’m sharing it with yours.

What Makes This Pizza Different

Most Americans think of Sicilian pizza as the thick, oily, heavily-topped squares you get at a New York slice shop. And while that style is delicious in its own right, it’s not what Sicilian families actually make at home. Our version is simpler, lighter, and focused on the quality of a few key ingredients rather than piling on toppings until you can’t see the crust.

The dough is a real bread dough – yeast, water, flour, olive oil, and salt. It rises until doubled, gets pressed into an oiled sheet pan, and bakes into a thick, golden crust with a crispy bottom and a soft, airy interior. This is the same dough my mamma used to make her Italian bread, which means on bread day, pizza was always part of the plan. One batch of dough, two meals.

The sauce is a quick marinara made from whole peeled tomatoes crushed by hand, simmered with onion, garlic, basil, and oregano. It thickens in about 15 minutes while the dough rises. Nothing from a jar, nothing complicated – just a simple, fresh tomato sauce that lets the quality of the tomatoes shine through. We use Mutti or San Marzano whole peeled tomatoes for the best flavor.

The topping is where this Sicilian pizza really stands apart. No mozzarella. Instead, we use a generous blend of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano with a handful of fresh basil scattered over the top. The two cheeses melt into a salty, nutty, golden layer that is completely different from the stretchy mozzarella blanket most people are used to. It’s lighter, more flavorful, and much more traditional to how pizza is made in Sicily.

What You Need

For the dough:

Yeast: One tablespoon of active dry yeast. Dissolve it in a quarter cup of warm water and let it sit until bubbly, about 5 minutes. If it doesn’t bubble, your yeast is dead and you need a fresh package.

Warm water: One and three-quarter cups total (divided – 1/4 cup for the yeast, 1 1/2 cups added after). The water should be warm but not hot. If it’s too hot, it will kill the yeast.

Olive oil: One tablespoon in the dough, plus more for greasing the bowl and the baking sheet. We use Partanna in our kitchen.

Salt: One tablespoon. We use Redmond Real Salt.

Flour: Four to five cups of all-purpose flour, added one cup at a time. The exact amount depends on humidity – you want the dough to stop being sticky without being dry and tough. In humid weather, you’ll use more flour. In dry weather, less.

For the marinara sauce:

Two tablespoons olive oil, half a small onion chopped fine, one garlic clove minced, one 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes (crushed by hand or with a potato masher), a quarter cup of water (rinse the tomato can), one teaspoon dried basil, half a teaspoon dried oregano, one teaspoon salt, and one teaspoon sugar. The sugar cuts the acidity of the tomatoes without making the sauce sweet.

For the toppings:

Two-thirds cup freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, two-thirds cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano, and half a cup of fresh basil, chopped. That’s it. The simplicity is the whole point.

How to Make Pizza alla Siciliana

Make the dough. In a large bowl, add the yeast and a quarter cup of warm water. Gently stir and let it sit until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of warm water, the olive oil, and the salt. Stir gently. Add the flour one cup at a time, stirring after each addition, until the dough is no longer sticky. It may require more or less flour depending on humidity. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 2 to 3 minutes until smooth. Clean out the bowl, coat it lightly with olive oil, and return the dough to the bowl. Cover with a clean dish towel and let it rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Make the marinara while the dough rises. In a deep skillet, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and sauté for 5 minutes. Then add the garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Next, add the whole peeled tomatoes and crush them using your hands or a potato masher right in the pan. Rinse the tomato can with about a quarter cup of water and add that to the skillet. Stir in the basil, oregano, salt, and sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Set aside.

Shape the pizza. Preheat your oven to 425°F. Once the dough has doubled, use your fist to punch it down and deflate it. For one large pizza, keep the dough whole. For two smaller pizzas, divide it in half. Grease your baking sheet (or sheets) with olive oil – about 2 teaspoons for a large sheet, 1 teaspoon for a small one. Use your hands to spread the dough evenly across the pan. Be patient here – the dough will naturally want to shrink each time you spread it. Firmly press the dough out, then let it rest for 1 to 2 minutes and spread it again. Repeat as needed until the dough fills the pan. Don’t use too much oil, as this will also make the dough slide around and resist spreading.

Top and bake. For a large pizza, spread about 1 1/2 cups of the marinara sauce over the dough. Sprinkle with two-thirds cup of Parmigiano Reggiano, two-thirds cup of Pecorino Romano, and half a cup of fresh chopped basil. For two small pizzas, divide everything evenly between them. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown. Check the bottom by lifting a corner with a spatula – you want it golden and crisp, not doughy.

Cut and serve. Cut the pizza into rectangles – with scissors if you want to do it the way my mamma did – and serve it straight out of the pan. This pizza is best eaten hot, right out of the oven, when the crust is at its crispiest and the cheese is still warm.

Tips for the Best Sicilian Pizza

Be patient with the dough. When you’re spreading the dough in the pan, it will fight you. The gluten wants to snap back every time you stretch it. The trick is to press it out firmly, then walk away for a minute or two and let the gluten relax. Come back and spread it again. Repeat until it fills the pan. Trying to force it all at once will just frustrate you and tear the dough.

Don’t over-oil the pan. You want just enough oil to prevent sticking and create a crispy bottom – about 2 teaspoons for a large sheet, 1 teaspoon for a small one. Too much oil and the dough will slide around when you try to spread it, making the job much harder than it needs to be.

Crush the tomatoes by hand. Don’t use a blender or food processor for the sauce. You want the tomatoes broken into irregular pieces, not pureed into a smooth paste. The chunks give the sauce texture and character. A potato masher or your hands work perfectly – just be careful of splashing.

Check the bottom, not the top. The most reliable way to know when this pizza is done is to lift a corner with a spatula and check the bottom. You want it golden brown and crisp. The top might look done before the bottom catches up, so don’t pull it early just because the cheese looks ready.

Use the dough for bread too. This is the same dough we use for our basic Italian bread. If you make a full batch, use half for pizza and shape the other half into a loaf. Let the loaf rise while the pizza bakes, and you’ll have fresh bread ready to go right after dinner. That’s exactly what my mamma used to do.

How to Serve Sicilian Pizza

This Sicilian pizza is meant to be cut into rectangles and eaten straight out of the pan. In our family, it’s almost always served as the main course on bread-making day, alongside whatever else came out of the oven that afternoon. It doesn’t need much else – maybe a simple salad dressed with olive oil and lemon, or a bowl of our minestrone soup if you want to make it a bigger meal.

Leftovers reheat well in a 375°F oven for about 8 to 10 minutes. Place the slices directly on the oven rack or on a baking sheet to keep the bottom crispy. Avoid the microwave if you can – it will make the crust soft and chewy instead of crisp.

If you love making things from scratch, this pizza is a great entry point for homemade bread and dough. The recipe is forgiving, the results are immediate, and there is something deeply satisfying about pulling a golden sheet of homemade pizza out of your own oven. Once you make it, you’ll understand why my mamma made it every single week, and why my kids – who were once embarrassed by rectangle pizza – now request it every time they come home.

This recipe is from our family cookbook, Roots of Sicily. It has 167 authentic Sicilian recipes and 139 family stories passed down through four generations – from weekly pizza nights like this one to elaborate holiday feasts. The stories behind the food are just as important as the recipes themselves.